There is a lot of interest in the merging of NURBS (used more by CAD software) and sub-division surfaces (used more by animation software). I interviewed IntegrityWare some weeks ago; Autodesk added sub-d surfaces to AutoCAD; and Pro/E is coming out with a Creo'ized version -- among others. Bringing sub-d surfaces to CAD makes for more flexible modeling.

T-Splines, however, is unique, as ceo Matt Sederberg told me last week, in its approach to sub-d modeling in that it has the ability to handle T-shaped intersections between faces (patented) with curvature continuity. In addition, T-Splines has the advantage of starting with curves (others tend to start from primitives, like boxes), and can match to an exact curve or surface or mesh -- hence the name, T and Splines.

This latest major release builds on the growth and success of T-Splines across a broad range of industries, including consumer products, jewelry design, automotive design and architecture, and introduces new modeling capabilities, and major speed and flexibility enhancements to the leading organic design product available today.

"The focus at the Austin conference was on the unfinished parts of the isogeometric agenda: specifically, on the problems of T-junctions and refinability, and of representing three-dimensional volumes."